The invention relates to apparatus for distributing flowing media (gases or liquids) from one flow cross section to a different flow cross section in general and more particularly to an improved apparatus of this nature.
Such apparatus is required, for instance, in an installation for chemical processes in which the cross section of a feed line carrying a flowing, gaseous or liquid medium must be adapted to the cross section of a succeeding part of the installation in such a manner that the flowing medium is distributed over the cross section of the succeeding part of the installation in a defined manner, e.g., uniformly. There is a particular need for such a device in a cylindrical chamber filled with a catalyst which must be charged with a mixture of gaseous reactants coming from a smaller feed line in such a way that the catalyst is loaded uniformly. Other possible applications include the uniform spraying of fillings with liquids or the aerating of liquids with gases in appropriate installations.
In a pipe flared out in funnel shape which has an aperture angle of less than 6.degree. to 8.degree. (measured between the central axis of the pipe and a straight line on the surface of the funnel), a laminar flow is still able to follow the flare of the pipe without development of stagnant spaces and turbulence. Thus, it is possible to obtain a flow of the medium different from zero over the entire cross section through the use of long, slowly tapered transition sections whose aperture angles are correspondingly small between the different cross sections of an installation. However, such arrangements, in addition to having an undesirably large structural length, have a media flow profile of the type calculated by Hagen and Poiseuille with a flow density which drops off toward the wall.